1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lock and lock releasing mechanism in an IC card connecting mechanism in which an IC card is inserted into a card receiving space through a card inlet port so that external contacts of the IC card are electrically connected to contacts arranged within the card receiving space, and more particularly to a lock and lock releasing mechanism in which a locked state for retaining an IC card in an inserting position and a lock released state for permitting the IC card to be ejected are established.
2. Related Art
There is known a mechanism which is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. Hei 10-21350 in which when an IC card is inserted into a card receiving space through an IC card inlet port, a card ejecting member is pressed by a front end face of the IC card to thereby establish an ejection standby state, an engagement portion of a resilient lock member is resiliently contacted with one side surface of the IC card to be received in the card receiving space to thereby accumulate preliminary resilient force, and the engagement portion is resiliently engaged in a recess formed in one side surface of the IC card by the preliminary resilient force when the IC card is inserted to a predetermined location, thereby establishing a locked state of the IC card.
In this conventional art, when the lock member is in resilient engagement in the recess of the IC card, the card ejecting member is actuated to eject the IC card. Accordingly, the lock member is forcibly disengaged from the recess by the pressing force of the card ejecting member.
Because of the arrangement mentioned above, the pressing force of the card ejecting member tends to be overly large. As a result, an overly large load is applied to the IC card due to the structure in which the lock member is pushed out of the recess by the IC card. Those inconveniences are even increased when it is attempted to enlarge the card retaining force by increasing the resilient force of the lock member.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. Hei 11-66245 discloses a comparable mechanism of the type including a card ejecting member which is pressed by an IC card when inserted, to thereby accumulate ejecting resilient force. This conventional related art employs a heart cam as a lock and lock releasing mechanism. In this mechanism, a locked state is established such that the ejecting member accumulates an ejecting resilient force and the locked state is released to allow the ejecting operation.
However, this heart cam mechanism inherently involves such problems that the structure is complicated and machining of high degree of accuracy is required. In addition, it has such problems that since the cam is slidingly moved through a complicated locus, the cam is susceptible to wear and in some instances, the heart cam fails to guide properly which often results in malfunction.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above situation.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a lock and lock releasing mechanism in an IC card connecting mechanism which is capable of reliably establishing a locked state and a lock released state of an IC card.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is essentially provided a lock and lock releasing mechanism in an IC card connecting mechanism comprising a resilient lock arm for accumulating preliminary resilient force by being resiliently contacted with one side edge of an IC card to be received in a card receiving space through a card inlet port, and a control member in which the resilient lock arm is engaged, by the preliminary resilient force, in a recess formed in the one side edge portion of the IC card while being relatively slidably moved on the one side edge of the IC card when the IC card is inserted to a predetermined location, thereby establishing a locked state of the IC card. On the other hand, the lock arm is resiliently displaced against the resilient force of the lock arm so that the lock arm is disengaged from the recess, thereby establishing a lock released state of the IC card.
In one preferred embodiment, the above mechanism further comprises a card ejecting member which is caused to move by being pressed by a front surface of the IC card thereby accumulating ejecting resilient force. The lock arm engaged in the recess is engaged with an inner surface of the recess against the ejecting resilient force.
Preferably, the resilient lock arm is formed of a cantilever arm extending from a basal end, which is fixed, towards the card inlet port. The other end of the resilient lock arm, this other end being the opposite end to the fixed basal end of the cantilever arm, includes a pressure receiving portion which is acted on by the control member so that the cantilever arm is resiliently displaced at the fixed basal end as a supporting point and disengaged from the recess.
From another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a lock and lock releasing mechanism in an IC card connecting mechanism comprising an eject member which is moved when an IC card is received in a card receiving space through a card inlet port so as to accumulate card ejecting resilient force, a resilient lock arm which resiliently contacts with one side edge of the card ejecting member so as to accumulate preliminary resilient force, and a control member in which the resilient lock arm is engaged, by the preliminary resilient force, with a recess or protrusion formed in the one side edge portion of the IC card while being relatively slidably moved on the one side edge of the IC card when the IC card is inserted to a predetermined location, thereby establishing a locked state of the IC card. On the other hand, the lock arm is resiliently displaced against the resilient force of the lock arm so that the lock arm is disengaged from the recess or protrusion, thereby establishing a lock released state of the IC card.
In one embodiment, the resilient lock arm is formed of a cantilever arm extending from a basal end, which is fixed, towards the card inlet port. The other end of the resilient lock arm, this other end being the opposite end to the fixed basal end of the cantilever arm, includes a pressure receiving portion which is acted on by the control member so that the cantilever arm is resiliently displaced at the fixed basal end as a supporting point and disengaged from the recess or protrusion.
Preferably, an inner end face of the control member for the lock releasing operation is defined as a slant surface for pressing the pressure receiving portion of the lock arm, and the pressure receiving portion is disposed in abutment or proximately opposing relation to the slant surface thereby establishing a standby state of the control member.
A more complete application of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.